Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools 2015-2025
WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) produces internationally comparable estimates of progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and is responsible for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to WASH. This data update presents national, regional and global estimates for WASH in schools up to the year 2025.
With just five years remaining until the end of the SDG period, the world is not on track to achieve universal access (>99%) to basic WASH services in schools by 2030. Achieving universal coverage will require a fourfold increase in the current rate of progress on basic drinking water, a fivefold increase in progress on basic sanitation, and a fourfold increase in progress on basic hygiene.
Based on current trajectories, around 84 per cent of schools will have basic water services, 81 per cent will have basic sanitation services and only 79 per cent will have basic hygiene services in 2030. At the end of the SDG period, 10 per cent of schools will still have no water service, 7 per cent will have no sanitation service and 12 per cent will have no hygiene service.
Key facts in 2025
- Drinking water: Globally, 429 million school-age children lacked an improved drinking water source with water available (basic drinking water service) at school. Over one out of five schools (22 per cent) lacked a basic drinking water service in 2025.
- Sanitation: Globally, 460 million school-age children lacked improved single-sex sanitation facilities that were usable (basic sanitation service) at school. Nearly one in four schools (23 per cent) lacked a basic sanitation service.
- Hygiene: Globally, 545 million school-age children lacked handwashing facilities with soap and water (basic hygiene service) at school. Over one out of four schools (28 per cent) lacked a basic hygiene service at school.
Explore the data
In 2025
- A total of 142 countries and all SDG regions had estimates for basic drinking water services in schools, representing 79% of the global school-age population.
- There were basic drinking water services (improved source with water available at the time of the survey) at 78% of schools, 9% had limited services (improved source with water unavailable) and 13% had no service (unimproved source or no source at all).
- A total of 429 million school-age children lacked a basic drinking water service at their school, including 171 million whose school had an improved source with no water available, and 258 million whose school still had no water service.
- Only half (54%) of schools in low-income countries had basic water services, compared with >99% of schools in high-income countries (53% in highly and extremely fragile contexts).
- Sub-Saharan Africa (46%) was the only SDG region where less than half of schools had basic drinking water services.
- Three out of four primary schools (76%) and four out of five secondary schools (81%) had basic drinking water services. There were insufficient data to generate global estimates for pre-primary schools.
- Nearly three out of five school-age children without a basic drinking water service at their school (250 million) lived in sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly a fifth (77 million) lived in Central and Southern Asia.
- Achieving universal access to basic drinking water services in schools by 2030 would require a fourfold increase in the current rate of progress. At the current rate of progress, the world will only reach 84% coverage by 2030, leaving approximately 314 million school-age children1 without a basic drinking water service at their school in 2030.
Globally, over 1 out of 5 schools did not have basic water services in 2025
Since 2015, global coverage of basic drinking water services in schools increased from 67% in 2015 to 78% in 2025. Coverage has increased more rapidly in Central and Southern Asia, where coverage rose from 56% to 86%, and in Northern Africa and Western Asia, from 73% to 94%. Since 2015, coverage has increased slowly in sub-Saharan Africa (42% to 46%), Oceania (52% to 55%) and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (87% to 91%), while it declined in Latin America and the Caribbean from 73% to 68%. Australia and New Zealand and Europe and Northern America had already achieved universal coverage (>99%).
In landlocked developing countries and highly or extremely fragile contexts, coverage increased but remained below 60% in 2025.
78% of schools had a basic water service but regional coverage varied widely in 2025
73 out of 142 countries with estimates for basic drinking water had achieved >99% coverage by 2025
28 out of 62 countries with trend data for basic drinking water in schools are on track to achieve universal coverage by 2030
Notes: Does not include countries with no estimates for annual rates of change. JMP estimates require at least two data points spanning at least five years to calculate trends.
Figure 8: Progress on basic drinking water services in schools among countries with data on trends, 2015–2025, by income group (per cent)
Source: WHO/UNICEF JMP (2026) progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools 2015-2025
In 2025
- A total of 146 countries and all SDG regions had estimates for basic sanitation services in schools, representing 67% of the global school-age population.
- There were basic sanitation services (improved single-sex facilities that were usable at the time of the survey) at 77% of schools, 11% had limited services (improved facilities that were not single-sex or not usable) and 12% had no service (unimproved facility or none at all).
- A total of 460 million school-age children lacked a basic sanitation service at their school, including 216 million whose school had improved facilities that were not single-sex or not usable and 244 million whose school still had no sanitation service.
- Coverage of basic sanitation services ranged from 50% in low-income countries to 99% in high-income countries (50% in fragile contexts).
- Sub-Saharan Africa (43%) was the only SDG region where less than half of schools had basic sanitation services.
- Coverage of basic sanitation services was higher in secondary schools (79%) than in primary schools (75%), but there were insufficient data to generate global estimates for pre-primary schools.
- Over half the school-age children without a basic sanitation service at their school (264 million) lived in sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly one third (138 million) lived in Central and Southern Asia.
- Achieving universal access to basic sanitation services in schools by 2030 would require a fivefold increase in the current rate of progress. At the current rate of progress, the world will only reach 81% coverage by 2030, leaving approximately 364 million school-age children without a basic sanitation service at their school in 2030.
Globally, nearly 1 in 4 schools did not have sanitation water services in 2025
Progress between 2015 and 2025, global coverage of basic sanitation services in schools increased from 67% in 2015 to 77% in 2025. Progress was fastest in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and Central and Southern Asia. Australia and New Zealand had already achieved universal coverage (>99%), while Europe and Northern America and Northern Africa and Western Asia were nearing universal coverage. Progress was steady in least developed countries, while coverage in landlocked developing countries declined from 52% to 48%.
The proportion of schools with no sanitation service was nearly halved, falling from 23% in 2015 to 12% in 2025.
77% of schools had a basic sanitation service but regional coverage varied widely in 2025
72 out of 146 countries with estimates for basic sanitation services had achieved universal access by 2025
29 out of 62 countries with trend data are on track to achieve universal coverage of basic sanitation in schools by 2030
Notes: Does not include countries with no estimates for annual rates of change. JMP estimates require at least two data points spanning at least five years to calculate trends.
Figure 18: Progress on basic sanitation services in schools among countries with data on trends, 2015–2025, by income group (per cent)
Source: WHO/UNICEF JMP (2026) progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools 2015-2025
In 2025
- A total of 136 countries and all SDG regions except Central and Southern Asia had estimates for basic hygiene services in schools, representing 40% of the global school-age population.
- There were basic hygiene services (handwashing facilities with soap and water available at the time of the survey) at 72% of schools, 9% had limited services (handwashing facilities with water but no soap available) and 18% had no service (no facilities or no water at the school).
- A total of 545 million school-age children lacked a basic hygiene service at their school, including 183 million whose school had facilities with water but no soap, and 362 million whose school had no hygiene service.
- Only 35% of schools in low-income countries had basic hygiene services, compared with >99% of schools in high-income countries (45% in highly or extremely fragile contexts).
- Only one in five schools in Oceania (19%) and two in five schools in sub-Saharan Africa (39%) had basic hygiene services.
- Coverage of basic hygiene services was similar in primary schools (71%) and secondary schools (72%); there were insufficient data to generate global estimates for pre-primary schools.
- Achieving universal access to basic hygiene services in schools by 2030 would require a fivefold increase in the current rate of progress. At the current rate of progress, the world will only reach 79% coverage by 2030, leaving approximately 406 million school-age children without a basic hygiene service at their school in 2030.
Globally, over 1 out of 4 schools did not have basic hygiene services in 2025
Global coverage of basic hygiene services in schools increased from 59% in 2015 to 72% in 2025. Australia and New Zealand had already achieved universal coverage (>99%) at the start of the SDG period, while Europe and Northern America reached universal coverage by 2025.
Northern Africa and Western Asia recorded the fastest progress, increasing coverage by 31 percentage points. Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia also made substantial progress. There were insufficient recent data to estimate 2025 trends for Central and Southern Asia. Oceania was the only SDG region where coverage declined, from 20% to 19%.
72% of schools had a basic hygiene service but regional coverage varied widely in 2025
73 out of 136 countries with estimates for basic hygiene had achieved universal coverage by 2025
Only 25 out of 50 countries with data on trends in basic hygiene services in schools are on track to achieve universal access by 2030
Notes: Does not include countries with no estimates for annual rates of change. JMP estimates require at least two data points spanning at least five years to calculate trends.
Figure 28: Progress on basic hygiene services in schools among countries with data on trends, 2015–2025, by income group (per cent)
Source: WHO/UNICEF JMP (2026) progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in schools 2015-2025
